Doctor takes practice on the road to protect elderly patients from COVID-19 exposure

WHEELING, W. Va. (WTRF) – Dr. Vic Wood purchased two vans and has decided the best way to keep his elderly patients safe is by making house calls.

My first patient in my house calls this morning was a 93-year-old who had coronary artery disease—he’d had a heart attack, had bypass, he had Alzheimers, he had hypertension and he was in a wheelchair.

Dr. Vic Wood – Doctors Urgent Care

So, the doctor went to the patient. Dr. Wood says he went on house calls as a child with his late father, Dr. Norman Wood.

We would go in there and they just treated you like family. They really appreciated you coming.

Dr. Vic Wood – Doctors Urgent Care

And he’s learning that the patients still appreciate it. The biggest change, he noted, is the medical bag.

My bag isn’t 18 inches long now. It’s three feet long and a foot thick because you have all this technology to take with you.

Dr. Vic Wood – Doctors Urgent Care

Dr. Wood announced his plan and two days later, he had 105,000 hits on social media.

There’s a real need out there. And I certainly hope that other providers and other doctors pick up on this model and go to the patient. Things are changing. And they’re probably gonna change forever.

Dr. Vic Wood – Doctors Urgent Care

The driving force behind his house calls is to protect the elderly from exposure to COVID-19. But he thinks the house calls may outlast the virus.

With the necessary precautions, we’re going to get through this. And this virus will burn itself out. I don’t know how long it will take, but it will. And we’ll get through it. But for now, we’re going to go see the patients at their house. And we will probably continue that, long after this virus is gone.